Learn about the issues involved in developing a state health workforce monitoring system and identify potential strategies to engage licensing bodies in collecting health workforce data.
Whether your state is just beginning a data system or already has one established, learn about common challenges facing states interested in using health workforce data to inform state policy decisions.
The number of actively practicing physicians and the number of physicians needed to meet demand in a particular specialty area depend on how physicians are counted (for example, area of training vs area of practice). The way physicians are counted has a major impact on our understanding of specialty shortages in particular areas and policy…
Congressional proposals to expand graduate medical education (GME) have set a goal of funding 3,000 new postgraduate year-1 (PGY1) slots for 5 years for a total of 15,000 new residency positions. Proposed legislation has suggested that the Workforce Commission, the Health Research and Services Administration (HRSA), and the US Government Accountability Office (GAO) provide input…
Stroke survivors who are given early contact with a physical and/or occupational therapist following their stroke improves their outcomes for recovery. The majority of stroke survivors are discharged home following an acute care admission. Understanding the care pathway from the acute to community setting and continuity of therapy across settings is extremely important to the…
Healthcare in the United States is currently undergoing dramatic and rapid changes. These changes will require adjustments in the ways we educate, deploy, and recruit new members of the healthcare workforce, and North Carolina is no exception. This article includes perspectives from many experts in education, policy, and practice about the state of North Carolinas…
Health care professionals are taking on new roles with medical assistants having one of the most rapidly evolving roles in new models of care. New roles are emerging that focus on coordinating and managing patients’ care within the health care system and “boundary spanning” functions that address the patient’s health care needs across health and…
As healthcare demand in the United States is expected to grow, increased use of nurse practitioners (NPs) and physician assistants (PAs) is seen as a partial solution to potential physician shortages. Both NPs and PAs can be trained relatively quickly compared to physicians and they can address patient needs across the spectrum of health settings…
Much discussion is underway about how to align payment incentives and new models of care to achieve the triple aim of improving population health, lowering cost and enhancing patients’ experience of care. Often overlooked from this discussion is how to align the workforce—particularly the 18 million workers already in the health system—to meet the needs…
Many major healthcare system innovations focus on changing the care delivery process, adopting technology, and adjusting workflows. However, most healthcare education and policy have not focused on training professionals to adapt to these increasingly integrated and coordinated systems. This article describes the ways in which healthcare training and education have not kept up with the…
